One conventional, elongated LED lamp can be retrofit into an existing fluorescent lamp fixture whose wiring is reconfigured so as to directly supply mains power to the LED lamp. With such an LED “retrofit” lamp, power is typically supplied to the lamp from a pair of power pins on one end of the lamp, with the pair of connector pins at the other end of the lamp not powering the lamp but providing mechanical support for the lamp. The foregoing arrangement for powering the lamp from the power pins at one end of the lamp has the benefit of limiting exposure to potentially life-threatening electrical shock from the mains current to a lamp installer during lamp installation.
A second conventional, elongated LED lamp can be retrofit into an existing fluorescent lamp fixture so as to use a fluorescent lamp electronic ballast contained in the fixture without reconfiguring the fixture wiring. As is the case with fluorescent lamps, the LED retrofit lamp obtains power from power pins at both (i.e., opposite) ends of the lamp. A representative LED retrofit lamp of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,089,213 B2 to Park. The Park LED lamp has a single mode of operation from an existing fluorescent lamp ballast associated with a fluorescent lamp fixture. Park teaches the use of capacitors C11-C14 in his FIG. 1 to “control the capacitance of a series resonant circuit of a fluorescent lamp ballast” at Col. 4, II. 26-30. Inasmuch as Park teaches fluorescent lamp ballasts having a high frequency of 50 kHz (Col. 8, I. 58 & Col. 11, I. 4), capacitors C11-C14, of necessity, have a high impedance at typical mains frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz. Accordingly, capacitors C11-C14 provide the benefit of sufficiently attenuating any current at typical mains frequencies so as to prevent a potentially life-threatening electrical shock hazard if the LED retrofit lamp is accidentally placed into a fluorescent lamp ballast wired directly to power mains.
Lamp designers have recognized that it would be desirable to have an LED retrofit lamp with dual mode operation from either an existing fluorescent lamp ballast associated with a fluorescent lamp fixture, or directly from power mains. U.S. Pat. No. 8,575,856 B2 to Chung et al. provides an LED lamp with dual mode operation. However, a single, master circuit is used to power LEDs in the lamp whether the power is supplied by AC mains or whether the power is supplied by an existing fluorescent lamp electronic ballast. This attempt suffers in potential performance regarding energy efficiency and stability compared to an LED lamp that operates only from AC mains power, or an LED lamp that operates only from power supplied by a fluorescent lamp electronic ballast.
The Chung et al. LED lamp is also flawed in that it fails to mitigate a potentially life-threatening electrical shock hazard when a lamp is placed into a fixture that is wired directly to power mains. This is because, in the case of AC mains operation, power is applied across the LED lamp through the same circuit used when the fluorescent lamp electronic ballast is present. As a result, a potential shock hazard is created, which may be life-threatening to a lamp installer during lamp installation.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide an LED retrofit lamp with dual mode operation from an existing fluorescent lamp electronic ballast associated with a fluorescent lamp fixture, as well as, alternatively, directly from power mains in an efficient and stable manner. It would also be desirable to provide such as lamp that can be configured to avoid a potential life-threatening electrical shock hazard when such a lamp is placed into a fixture wired to supply power directly from power mains.